Shrinking China production dents commodity prices

AFP, LONDON

A sales clerk arranges gold necklaces at a store in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on Thursday. Improving global economic health means gold will not be rebounding any time soon, with prices expected to fall another 13 percent after last year’s crash caught out investors, Thomson Reuters GFMS said in a report on Thursday.

Photo: Reuters

Oil prices endured a roller-coaster week, with an upbeat economic growth forecast for the world economy giving way to concerns over Chinese output.

Commodity markets traders balanced the IMF’s global growth forecast upgrades against news that manufacturing activity in key commodity consumer China shrank this month for the first time in six months.

OIL: New York prices on Thursday jumped to US$97.84 a barrel, the highest level since Jan. 2, helped in part by a sliding US dollar that can make commodities priced in the US unit cheaper for buyers holding rival currencies.